Pandora's Box

Last Candition:
May 26, 2012

5.0

Group of 7 completed canyon car-to-car in 10.5 hours using Meek’s Mesa exit. Navigation was smooth using Roadtrip Ryan gps mapping. Exit was cairned ok but we had to search around a few times. I wouldn’t want to attempt that exit in the dark. Even though it rained 2 inches in the past week the canyon had no pools over thigh deep. Anchors & webbing all seemed to be in good condition. Overall, this canyon was gorgeous, fun, and very challenging with lots of stemming, squeezing, & awkward starts on rappels. Because it takes a long time, I would not recommend doing this when days are shorter & nights are cold because any cause for delay could put you in a dangerous situation.

Great Canyon! Very little water. A few pools at the start, all less than knee deep. Dry through the rest of the canyon. Anchors in good shape. 4 people, took 15 hours using the Chimney Rock exit. The exit felt very long.

Beautiful, fun, lots of variety. Dry-knee deep. Many raps/downclimbs started with an awkward, tight squeeze then an overhung drop. That made it easy to get a limb stuck, easily broken. Final rap webbing had many pieces and felt messy. This canyon would be HELL for big people. I'm 5'9" 125 lbs and still got my butt stuck. I don't think you could even stem over one narrows because the walls stayed skinny as far as I could see overhead. Downstream longer exit was tedious but pretty. We all got awful blisters. Get insoles.

Party of 3 took 12.5 hours using the Meeks Mesa exit. A little snow on Meeks Mesa on north facing slopes. Some minor spots of snow left in the canyon. Several minor pools but nothing was more than knee deep so wetsuits not used or needed. Webbing anchor at 4th rap difficult to inspect because its attached to wedged rocks on canyon bottom where it's difficult to reach down & see but it held us okay. All other anchors okay but should be inspected for further wear.

A number of pools to knee deep, lots of mud due to recent rain. Found and removed several unnecessary anchors, and rebuilt one. We had an unexpected delay due to weather, putting our walk out chimney rock completely in the dark. Otherwise canyon is in good condition.

A couple pools at the very beginning of the technical section, but only ankle deep. Canyon completely dry after that. Wetsuit not needed. Party of 12 completed the trip in 10 hours car to car using the short exit. Anchors in descent condition.

Anchors looked worn and were covered in spider's webs, although a couple were updated recently. The deadman held fine but I agree it wont last long. Second to last drop was updated on the same bush, worked fine with forces from a need to use a contingency. Pool was about thigh deep where I set myself down. Daddy long-legs EVERYWHERE. Hanging out in clusters in all the wrong places.

Meek's Mesa exit. Carried topo from climb-ut worked great for approach and exit. Although I wouldn't want to be doing that exit in the dark for my first go around. Carried gps only to confirm the drop-in point.

Amazing canyon, a favorite. Returned via the Meeks Exit. Glad we did it in the afternoon, as navigating through all the broken cliff bands takes some hunting.

Very long day.

Anchors in poor shape. The first one off an old log had the webbing slipping over it. The second we extended the ring over the lip to try and encourage less rope grooves. The third, we created (deadman). No material to work with, but we didn't want to groove up the rock from the second with a hard pull. Weather will erode this anchor with time, so check it! Second to last rap was incredibly bad. 100 degree angle from a small bush and a boulder. Removed it and setup long redundant webbing from a bigger bush high and further back.

Only the drop before all the twisting narrows had water, waist deep. No wetsuits needed.

In great condition right now! One pool is neck-deep, all the rest are below your waist. Anchors all in passable condition. Great day out in the canyon, though it was several more tight spots than this fat guy bargained for!

My new favorite, this canyon was awesome! The canyon was dry and all the anchors were great, even the one that didn't weight until you were about 2 feet off the ground. We downclimbed that one and used the anchor as a handline. A GPS is very useful in finding the exit though, we made it much harder by exiting a half mile early.